Apres Ski (organic)

Thanks Daisy Chubb!!!!

Before reading all of the crazy reviews and tasting notes on this I already knew this would be an interesting cuppa as my thoughts upon first sniff was OUT HOUSE…yes…an OUT HOUSE type aroma! WTF!?

I then looked up this tea and noticed I was NOT the only one with that experience! LOL

The taste is very different from the aroma – THANK THE TEA GODS FOR THAT!

I can taste a sweet wood, burdock root, apples, orange, spice, and figs! I like the addition of the fig. It could have probably done with out the burdock root. The cinnamon is barely there and I am ok with this. This is a conflicting group of flavors and the aroma is awful to be blunt. Considering my height of dislike for the aroma the taste isn’t awful…thanks to the fig and orange. I can’ bring myself to give it a high rating as it isn’t that good but it’s not UNdrinkable either…as long as you plug your nose!

ehhhhh.

Okay, I hate to be the first one to review this tea – I don’t want to scare you away from it!
Maybe I’ll scare you.. towards it?

Okay let’s just do this. Dry smell: rotten fruit. Garbage. Oh my gaawwd my nostrils.
Okay so don’t stick your nose in the bag haha. It’s kind of nice and a deep fruity smell from farther away. :3

Steeped: Smells like.. figs I guess. Or garbage. whichever. haha.
Okay so I’m reminded of fig newtons. And.. christmas I guess. Figgy pudding?

Aftertaste is like I just finished chewing on a big dirty piece of corrugated cardboard. And then this delicious caramel buttery sensation comes. Right when you finish.

Well eff that. This tea is not for me. But I hope it’s for you :) Do you like figs? Maybe it just smells like figs. Fig Newtons are my first and last experience with figs – it’s all I know! I like them… anyways. Enjoy?

Backlog:

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

I don’t hate this as much as some other people did. But, it wasn’t the greatest cup of tea I’ve had either. I do like the representation of fig in this cup, it has a decent fig flavor. I tasted hints of citrus. Overall, it was just ok. Not something I’d order again (which is a good thing since it doesn’t appear to be available any longer) but if I were offered it, I wouldn’t mind drinking it again.

Yep, yuck. This does smell pretty foul, but I want to like it. I quite like figs! And, I loved Forbidden Fruit. I smell the rotten fruit/garbage that DaisyChubb mentioned, but also a faint hint of the figginess from Forbidden Fruit, so I resolved to fight through that and give it a chance. Unfortunately, I taste the root beer, rum, garbage, and sweet plastic that others have noted. None of these are things I like to drink. I don’t know. I am telling myself I’ll give this another try, but I could only get through a couple tentative sips. The smell is really potent.

Another tea that my memory tells me I wasn’t fond of the first time I tried it, although I did pick up an additional 10g when I heard it would only be available online, just so I could give it a fair shot.

I find it interesting that people are getting an “outhouse” smell to this tea. I’ll admit, the dry tea does smell a bit off, but I don’t really think it’s that bad. I think it must be an odd ingredient combination – I don’t recall Forbidden Fruit (with figs) having quite the same odd aroma, some perhaps it’s the burdock root? Anyhow, it doesn’t smell weird enough to turn me off. Peppermint teas, on the other hand…

Steeped, I’m no longer getting any off-putting smells. It smells sweet-ish and a rich sort of fruity. I wouldn’t have pegged it as fig had I not known the tea ingredients.

It tastes rich and a bit sweet and fruity, with a bit of a woody astringency in the finish which is not really to my liking. I can tell that there are some more complex flavours going on here, but I’m not good enough at this yet to be able to pick them out. I have to say that I actually like the smell of the steeped tea better than the flavour – if I tasted a bit more sweetness and fruitiness without the astringency I think I might like this, but still not enough to pick it up again.

ETA: Taking a quick look at the ingredients, I see orange peel and cinnamon. Another sip confirms that I’m tasting a hint (but barely) of orange peel, but I’m really not getting any cinnamon whatsoever. Perhaps it’s because I just drank the cinnamon-laden Forever Nuts, but I doubt it… Anyways, the next cup of this I have will be from my new 10g sample bag instead of from an online-purchase sample pack that I first opened in late December and probably improperly stored until now, so maybe I’ll pick up on some more flavour then.

I was steeling myself for a less than pleasant taste experience after reading some of the reviews on Steepster of this tea. I was pleasantly surprised—I really liked it. The dry tea does have a somewhat offputting smell, but not so like garbage or rotten fruit like some other people have described. It was more of a heavy, earthy-fruity smell that I wasn’t expecting.

The tea itself was delicious—a nice black tea base that played well with the fig and cinnamon and orange. I definitely got figs and cinnamon, and every once in a while got a bit of orange. None of the flavors were inappropriately overwhelming—everyone got along. I’d definitely buy it, I only had one small sample from an earlier DavidsTea order. Maybe next holiday season I will.

Steeped small packet in 12 oz water for five minutes at 205 degrees.

Ok, yeah, so…

Don’t smell it once it is in the bag, or at least smell very far in. In a certain range, it does smell a bit like garbage. Good call on that Daisy. I think it has something to do with a reaction to the plastic bag, or perhaps the burdock root, because it certainly didn’t smell like garbage in the store with the tester/tin, and…once I got very far in, I smelled the figs again. But there was a garbage smell range. shudders

On to taste…

I should state, in advance, that I actually do like figs (probably wouldn’t have tried it if I didn’t). I love figs on flatbread pizza with some prosciutto and goat cheese (sorry Jenn) on it. So yummy. Oh, and add caramelized onions too. :P

I do definitely taste the figs, and the flavour marries well with both the black tea base as well as the orange and cinnamon bits in it. I am not clear on what purpose the burdock root is in the mix for, other than potentially making this a very earthy blend. I think the tea is a little rich and hearty, and something that could be used as a dessert tea, perhaps as a latte.

I am undecided if I will repurchase this again, but I find the tea quite nice, and I can see why they have this as a holiday tea. I must try the others and see what I think, but it is conceivable that I’ll get a little more while it is around.

This tea…was a challenge when I opened the bag. It smelled like death and garbage. I wish I was exaggerating about that but I’m not. I was considering not trying it because the scent was hellish. But I had a brave night and I tried it. Once you get past the smell of the dry leaf, the tea is really very good.

This tea tasted like caramelized figs. This was very big on the fig for me. I loved it. I have been searching for a fig tea for quite a while—-I was hoping for vanilla and fig but I’ll take what I can get. The aftertaste was pure burdock root. I’m not sure about it. Some sips I found it to be pleasant and with others it was just…off. I did not get much cinnamon or orange.

I did like this tea quite a bit once I got over my fear. I think I could end up falling in love with this tea after a few cups but I am not quite there yet.

Made for me at a DavidsTea store. Four-minute steep. Bare.

Another flavoured tea where all I can taste is the flavour. I didn’t get any of the “rotten garbage” scent that others have noted, but I did wonder if burdock was a good choice. I also wonder if some figs haven’t fermented.

Tea liquor was bronzey. Tasting notes: figgy and sweet and a tiny bit spicy. No hint of black tea whatsoever, which is, for me, an issue. Flavoured tea is great, but I do want to taste tea. I don’t expect to purchase this one again.

Rating: 60.

When I first smelled this tea, I was completely turned off.
It’s not even appealing and it was a really big deception.

When I first read the description and seen the blend, i’ve said : Yes! A yummy fruity/cinnamon one!

Here’s the review : Yes, the description was right. This tea is really rich, complex.
It looks like a dessert tea, because I feel a lots of strange fruity taste (it’s like the figs turned out-of-date) with a really strong black tea. The orange peel and the cinnamon just add some sweet aftertaste, but really not accentuate the flavor.

Overall my friends, I think the figs turned out bad once dried. What a deception! It’s not an atrocious taste, it’s just not appealing and really not as what I can expect from a DT blend. It was a mistake, but we can understand. Nobody’s perfect!

I was worried that after having another tea from DT with figs in it, that I would not appreciate this tea at all, but I was blissfully mistaken.

It’s been a while since I’ve had this tea and it’s not noté worthy enough for me to want to buy more, but it is a tea I will look forward to in next years winter collection.

I must say, it’s true about the smell when you stick your nose right upto the bag… I was scared about the fig,,, but I did try this and to my surprise I liked it with a tsp of sugar it was quite nice, I don’t know if I’d drink this again… I might, I might not haha.

I was actually pretty surprised at all the hate this tea is getting. I am really enjoying it.

First of all, the smell. I admit, it was a bit unusual. However, I thought describing it as garbage was a bit harsh. It was a bit of a fermented smell and made me think of wine – red wine I think, but I’m no connoisseur. I understand that dried figs are about 50% sugar, which means they ferment easily. Whether this was intentional or not, I don’t know.

I found that the brewed tea did not have any unpleasant odour. The smell was quite fruity and yet also earthy at the same time. An autumn fruit smell as opposed to spring or summer fruit smell if you will.

I found the brew well balanced as far as taste goes. The orange bits did not overpower the rest of the flavours as orange sometimes does. The cinnamon was complimentary, but just complimentary. I didn’t feel like I was drinking a cup of it. The fruity (fig) taste was clearly there, but I could still taste the tea underneath. I added a little brown sugar for a bit of extra sweetness and it seemed to bring the flavour out a bit more.

Overall I was quite impressed. I found this to be a very pleasant tea to enjoy on a winter day. Solid thumbs up.

mediocre at best, can’t put my finger on it….almost medicinal.
David’s can do better.

{backlogged review}

Add me to the list of reviewers who were underwhelmed with this one. Sorry Davids, but it didn’t make me love it. And I tried, I did! Like the tea addict I am, I ran to the store the day they came out and this was actually the first one I brewed. I wasn’t turned off by the smell at all, in fact after the brewing I was still excited to try it. I love fig newtons and this was my first fig tea.

Black, yeah, not for me. So I added some brown sugar. It made a big difference and I settled in with my cup to watch some tv. I loved my first third of the cup or so, but as I got in that far I realized that I’d stopped loving it. By halfway through I was actually disliking it. So down the rest went, and the tea was gifted away. Sorry Apres-Ski, but you are so very much not for me, at the chalet or at home.

OK trying this for the first time let’s see what happens,

I agree that if you stick your nose in the bag this doesn’t smell great but from 15 inches away it smells sweet. ditto while steeping don’t put your nose too close to the cup.

taste: yeah i get the same as everyone else plastic… this is disappointing not doing this again that’s for sure

So I had put a hold on trying this one with all the negative reviews, but I finally sucked it up and gave it a steep yesterday. It does smell pretty strongly of dried figs in the bag, and another not quite as pleasant scent layer that I can’t quite put my finger on.

It steeped up pretty well considering I forgot about it for a while; wasn’t too dark or acidic. The fig flavor was super strong though, and a little too sweet even without any added sweetner. I didn’t get any of the ‘garbage-ness’ that others have mentioned, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the taste of the tea as soon as it started to cool down.

Not a huge fan of this one, Really glad I only got hte 26g bag with the Winter Collection box, I’ve only got about another cup and a half left in the bag so I’ll hopefully be able to run through it pretty quick. While I don’t hate it, I don’t think it will make a repeat appearance on my tea shelf.

4 girls. 7 teas. 1 unanimous decision.

First impressions – This tea smells bad. End of story. It smells bad in the tin. It smells bad in the bag. It smells bad in the cup. Woah. We gave it a 0 out of 10 for smell.

Flavor – Reactions went from outright disgust to uncertainty. It doesn’t taste like figs and orange and cinnamon. So what does it taste like? Well, we all agreed that, whatever it was, it wasn’t good. 2 out of 10, just because we could still drain the cup out of necessity.

Loveability – If you’ve read this much, you know the answer to that.

It’s not that bad. I mean, it’s a nice warm fruity taste, definately something you wanna drink in front of a fireplace.

It’s an okay tea for me. Won’t repurchase.

Initial impressions- An unidentifiable sweet smell. The prior reviews are correct, almost rotting fruit, but not horrible. Like something just overripe but not yet disgusting, just giving off a sickly sweet odour. Not my favourite in terms of scent. I can see lots of black tea leaves, some white leaves (marigold petals), some white and brown chunks (fig and burdock root?).
How I brewed it- 94 degrees (we have an automatic hot water dispenser at work, not a kettle, so it’s 4 degrees below what I would make it at at home, 1/4 tsp of agave nectar, 6 minutes.
First sips- Tea does not match its rotting fruit scent at all, but it isn’t spectacular, that being said. I haven’t eaten burdock root and do not like figs (with the exception of Forbidden Fruit, which was why I gave this tea a shot), so I’m not sure what I’m tasting, but I find it has somewhat of a non-taste with a very sweet aftertaste. Not horrible, but not something I’d spend money on again.